


blank page

by finkpishnets



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finkpishnets/pseuds/finkpishnets
Summary: “I’ve decided we’re going to be friends.”“You what?” Aaron says, sure he must have misheard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i would probably give my first born for rebecca not to be vilified just to add drama to the robert/aaron relationship, but also i just really want her to be friends with at least one of the boys. so, yeah. have fic to that extent.
> 
> set a little post 28/10/16.

 

 

“Right,” Rebecca says, sitting down next to him at the bar, “what are you having?”

“Uh,” Aaron says, looking at his almost empty glass, “you’re alright, thanks.”

Rebecca rolls her eyes. “A pint it is,” she says, and orders before he can stop her. There’s beads on her top that catch the light when she moves, and Aaron knows absolutely nothing about shoes but he’s pretty sure those boots cost more than most people’s rent.

“What do you want?” he says, because she’s a White and he’s not daft.

Rebecca sighs. “Okay,” she says. “Okay, the thing is, I’m stuck here. If I want to make sure Chrissie doesn’t steamroller me out of my inheritance and that brat of hers doesn’t attempt to put another bullet in my father then I’ve got to stay.”

“Yeah,” Aaron says, ‘cause he knows that much. Robert’s been surprisingly open about the whole plan, and Aaron thinks he could get used to it, this partners in crime thing.

“ _So_ ,” Rebecca says, “the Whites aren’t exactly the most popular people around here, and, well…” Her eyes drop to her wine glass and Aaron realises how few years there are between them before she shakes it off, toasting him with a wide smile. “I’ve decided we’re going to be friends.”

“You what?” Aaron says, sure he must have misheard, and Rebecca bites her lip.

“Friends,” she says. “Mates. Robert’s in love with you and me and him have always got along well even without, you know, the _other_ stuff, and _besides_ , you know about all the ridiculous drama so I don’t have to pretend to be the ditzy party girl with more cash than sense.”

“You kissed my boyfriend,” Aaron says. “And I don’t mean the affair. You kissed my boyfriend — my _fiancé_ — what? Two weeks ago?”

“Ah,” she says, “well. Yes. But you of all people can’t blame a girl for trying. Let’s be honest, neither of us is exactly the pinnacle of morality.”

And, well, yeah. Aaron has to give her that.

“Why me?” he says eventually, because Rebecca seems to be waiting for an answer and because Aaron really doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do here. He should just say ‘no, ta’, he really should, but it’s not Rebecca’s fault Robert’s never been able to keep it in his pants, and she’s right about Aaron not having any high ground here. The only real difference between them is that Robert’s chosen him now, in the end, whilst Rebecca’s still playing catch-up after years of getting the run around. 

Rebecca shrugs. “Why not you?”

The only thing they seem to have in common is their taste in men, and that’s hardly a stellar starting point, but he thinks about Robert sat at the end of the bar drinking alone for months on end and Rebecca now, ordering a pint for a bloke who should probably hate her a bit, and figures common ground isn’t as important as staving off loneliness.

“Okay,” he says, and wonders how long it’ll be before he regrets it.

“Great,” Rebecca says, and when she smiles it looks like relief.

 

 

 

 

“You what?” Robert says, and Aaron rolls his eyes, folding his arms over his chest defensively.

“You heard,” he says, because sometimes he can’t help himself and because this is all Robert’s fault, really, when you think about it. Rebecca wouldn’t even _be_ here if it wasn’t for him. “She’s lonely, what did you want me to say? ‘No thanks, my other half’s just using you as part of his revenge scheme, but it’s best we don’t start getting personal’?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Robert says. He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he perches on the edge of the sofa, and becoming that soft, honest version of himself Aaron loves more than anything. “I just— What if it’s another scheme and you end up hurt?”

Aaron tugs the arms of his jumper over his fingers and steps a bit closer. Sometimes it feels like he’s always doing that, drifting into Robert’s orbit without even really thinking about it. He supposes it’s what got them into this mess in the first place, but he wouldn’t change it, not when it makes him feel implausibly safe and not when Robert’s shoulders relax a little more at every inch of distance closed.

They’re as bad as each other, really.

“It’s just a drink every now and then. Saying hi when we run into each other, that sorta thing. I’m not gonna start spilling all my deep dark secrets.” _It’s not like I have any deep dark secrets left_ , he thinks.

Robert looks up at him. The cut on his cheek’s still healing and his hair’s grown out some; it reminds Aaron of those early days when running his hands through Robert’s hair was a luxury he’d only get for brief snatches before they went back to pretending they barely knew each other. There’s no boundaries on him now, so he reaches out and gently tugs on the ends, letting the metal of his ring brush Robert’s neck.

Robert leans into it, eyes drifting closed, and Aaron doesn’t know how people stand it, being loved this much.

“Just be careful, okay?” Robert says, and Aaron leans down, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah,” he says, “‘course.”

 

 

 

 

Aaron thinks the person Rebecca really wants to be mates with is Robert.

Their masks are so similar it doesn’t surprise Aaron a bit that they used to fall together, and he wonders how Chrissie missed that too; Robert’s not a good liar, no matter what he thinks. He goes overboard on the charm and everything he says sounds like it comes out of the kind of films Charity watches, and the only reason anyone believes him is because they _want_ to.

They’ve all wanted to at some point.

Rebecca’s a better liar, Aaron notices. Not because she finds it easier, but because most of the lies she tells are to herself, and Aaron can relate to that. 

Rebecca wants to believe she and Robert are the same. Underneath her mask, Rebecca cares about people. She cares about her dad and sister and nephew, about the mates she’s made on her travels and most of her exes, and what people in the village think of her. She makes mistakes but she’s a good person.

Aaron doesn’t have the heart to tell her that Robert can count the number of people he genuinely cares about on one hand.

 

 

 

 

“We should go out,” Rebecca says, leaning in to include Adam and Vic in her invitation. “There’s got to be _some_ good clubs nearby.”

“Yeah,” Adam says, shooting Aaron a look to check he’s not putting his foot in it, “there’s a couple in town.”

“Brilliant!” Rebecca says, and Aaron wonders what she’s like when she’s not trying to be the bright, happy girl she thinks people want her to be. The life of the party or whatever. “Uh, and Robert?”

“I dunno,” Aaron says. Robert’s still not too good with cars; he’s been walking to and from work and Chas has been the one to drop Liv off at school when she’s been late for the bus, grabbing her keys before Robert or Aaron even have to ask. Aaron’s not brought it up except to let Robert know he can talk when he’s ready, and Robert’s echoed it back, looking pointedly at the bathroom door where Aaron’s taken to showering as quickly as possible in the mornings and won’t go near the bath for anything.

They’re getting better at not bottling things up. Aaron reckons it bodes well for the whole marriage thing.

“Well,” Rebecca says, “you know him best.”

“Yeah,” Aaron says, and feels the truth of it down to his bones. “I do.”

 

 

 

 

They end up piling into a taxi at the weekend.

Aaron’s wearing the shirt that makes Robert’s eyes go dark and promising, and Robert grips his hand the whole way into town, thumb pressing against Aaron’s ring.

The club’s not too crowded, and Rebecca makes noises about it filling up later but Aaron’s glad of the space to breathe. He goes with Adam to get the first round in and when they come back Vic’s trying to encourage conversation whilst Robert stares into the middle distance and Rebecca pretends she’s not watching him with sad eyes.

“Yeah,” Adam says, shooting Aaron a look, “this is gonna be a _great_ night.” He takes Victoria’s hand, pulling her out of her stool. “Come on babe, let’s dance.”

Rebecca watches them go, opens her mouth to say something, changes her mind, and gets up too. “Dancing sounds like a great idea,” she says, and Aaron doesn’t know why but he catches her arm as she passes, offering her a small smile that melts some of the brittle expression from her eyes.

“Oy,” he says, sliding into Rebecca’s vacated stool and nudging it sideways until he’s well and truly invading Robert’s personal space. Robert ducks his head on a smile, and Aaron leans into it, stopping far enough away to give Robert control, and sighing when Robert takes the invitation and kisses him.

Aaron’s still not used to this, to being able to kiss Robert whenever he wants, to kissing _anyone_ whenever he wants, and it feels like another milestone to add to the list.

( _Jackson would be proud_ , he thinks fleetingly, and it doesn’t make him as sad as it would have once.)

“You alright?” Robert says, and Aaron nods.

“You?”

“Yeah,” Robert says. “S’just a bit weird is all.”

“You should talk to her,” Aaron says, and Robert frowns at him in surprise. “Come on, Rob.”

“You _want_ me to talk to her?” Robert says, and Aaron reaches out to brush the pad of his thumb against Robert’s ring.

“Not about Chrissie or Andy or any of that,” Aaron says. “Just. About normal stuff. About films and music and, I don’t know, that arsehole teacher of Liv’s. Just _stuff_.”

“Stuff,” Robert echoes, looking at Aaron like he still can’t quite figure him out even after all this time.

“It’s all she wants,” Aaron says.

“She doesn’t even know me, not really.”

“She knows about the affairs,” Aaron says. “First hand even.”

“We both know cheating’s pretty low on the scale of messed up stuff I’ve done,” Robert says, and Aaron kisses him again because he can.

“Yeah,” he says. “Maybe she won’t even want to be mates with you. Maybe she’ll find your obsession with Tom Cruise movies weird and depressing. You never know.”

Robert rolls his eyes but he’s smiling, that small, real smile that’s mostly only ever for Aaron. “Stop imprinting your own hangups onto other people.”

“ _Talk to her_ ,” Aaron says, pressing his forehead against Robert’s temple and breathing in his cologne.

“Yeah,” Robert says, and Aaron thinks, _he loves you, he loves you, he loves you_. “Okay.”

 

 

 

 

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Rebecca starts, waving Adam and Vic off as they head down the street. Robert’s rushed in to use the loo, and the taxi’s waiting to drop Rebecca back at the Whites, but Rebecca’s lingering. “In love, I mean. I thought I had. I thought— But I hadn’t. He’s _calm_ with you. Content. I never thought I’d see Robert as either.”

Aaron rubs a hand across the back of his neck and knows he’s blushing.

“It’s nice,” Rebecca says, shuffling a little, and it’s the closest to awkward Aaron’s ever seen her. She looks earnest though, like she really means it, and Aaron thinks he’s been right all along. This isn’t about Robert’s love life so much as it’s about Rebecca not wanting to lose him from _her_ life completely. 

“Yeah,” Aaron says with a grin, “it’s alright.”

“He—” she says, shaking her head on a smile. “He invited me ‘round for tea. Said it’s his turn to cook all week so it’ll be edible but I’ll probably be roped into helping Liv with her Geography homework.”

Aaron bursts out laughing.

“Yeah,” he says. “Just don’t let her trick you into doing it for her so she can watch the tele. Robert keeps falling for that with her maths.”

“Right,” Rebecca says, cheeks flushed from the night air and the happiness she’s radiating. “Great. Tuesday okay?”

“Should be,” Aaron says. He imagines his little, chaotic family sitting around the kitchen table in the back room of the pub entertaining Rebecca White and almost starts laughing again. 

His life’s so bloody weird.

“You know,” Rebecca says, sliding back into the taxi but holding the door, “I’m really glad I asked to be your friend.”

“Well,” Aaron says, “you might not be saying that after you’ve been ‘round for tea.”

 

 

 

 

Robert’s already stripped down to his boxers when Aaron slips into their room, careful not to wake up the others.

“Did Rebecca say about tea?” he says, and Aaron nods, reaching for his pyjamas.

“She’s gonna pop ‘round on Tuesday,” he says.

“Was that okay?” Robert asks, and he sounds nervous, waiting for Aaron’s approval and assurance. Aaron wonders if either of them’ll ever stop needing that. He’s not sure if he wants them to or not.

“‘Course,” he says, because Robert may have been responsible for bringing Rebecca into their lives, but Aaron’s the one that’s let that twist and turn into something else. Hopefully something easier. “Why not just grab a drink or something though?”

Robert blinks at him like it’s obvious. “I’m only really myself around you and Liv. If she’s gonna get to know the real me then she’s got to know _us_. Our family.”

Aaron’s heart twists and stops and melts.

“I love you,” he says, because he can’t say it enough, because Robert can’t hear it enough, and because each time he says it Robert’s smile is _everything_.

“Love you, too,” Robert says.

 _I know_ , Aaron thinks. _I know, I know, I know._

“Yeah,” he says, because he can, because he’s trying, _because, because_ , “I know.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> come hang out with me [on tumblr](http://madroxed.tumblr.com/).


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